Real Estate For Sale

ORGANISING a wedding is tough enough, let alone an Australia-wide auction at the same time

That's been the past week for bride-to-be Jessi Keary, who teamed up with friend Stacey Jowett to host an auction to raise $13,269 for the Matt Golinski Recovery Fund.

The women, who live on opposite sides of the country, were brought together last year by their interest in selling kids' clothing through their online shops.

Touched by the tragedy of the Tewantin Boxing Day house fire, which claimed the lives of Rachael Golinski and daughters Sage, Willow and Starlia, Ms Keary and Ms Jowett used their connections to put out word they were seeking donations of goods to be auctioned.

They were overwhelmed by the response, with donations of kids' clothing, photography vouchers, dolls, make-up, books, toys, and handmade items coming in from around Australia.

The auction ran from Wednesday to Friday midnight with tremendous results.

"We were just blown away by the support," Ms Keary said.

"We knew it wasn't going to take away the pain but we wanted to show the support behind them from people they didn't even know."

Ms Keary said she was a fan of Mr Golinski from his time on television cooking show Ready Steady Cook.

"You could just tell how much he loved his family from the way he spoke about them on the show," she said.

"You don't need to know him to imagine what he's going through."

Ms Jowett said the auction had been a long process but worth it.

"So many generous people and businesses inundated us with donations. I have to say without them the auction wouldn't have been the success it was," Ms Jowett said.